My Friends And I Aren’t That Close Anymore But I Still Love Them

When I started college, I knew that to assimilate better to life there, I should join a club. It took a while to find the right group; I didn't want to surround myself with facetious or obnoxious people after all.

I eventually found a club that valued spirituality and faith. The group of college Christians welcomed me with joy and laughter. Even though I had issues with mental illness, they focused on my identity as a Christian rather than my depression. They encouraged me to be more open and have faith.

Some graduated and moved away for better career opportunities. Some interned at the club or stayed involved somehow. But those who I was close within the club preferred to keep their distance. After one of my friends' engagement fell through, she didn't crave intimacy with the others from the group. So then it became only the five of us.

Two friends out of my group were more focused on their academics and gossiping; they eventually left and found new people to hang out with. Then I removed myself from the group due to feelings of insecurity. It wasn't until I reached out when I felt lonely that I realized though that I could still have the greatest friendships despite not being close to each other anymore.

I want to say that I don't have anything against them for the dissipation of our friendships. But when it was happening, I didn't. I was very resentful for watching my friendships fall apart, and so quickly. I wanted to repair them.

But it takes two to fix any relationship. While I wanted my friends back, they had to want me back too. It almost hurt when they moved on. It felt like they were rejecting me.

I learned that my friendships will bring out the best in me and my worst. So when I reached out, it was my way of making peace with not only them but myself. I couldn't beat myself up for having any friends because I did. I just didn't have them presently.

I also learned that I can still love my friends for what they had taught me. I can still honor them and send them a text saying, "thinking of you." Because our lives are mainly there, in the experiences we have had with one another, and not the number of friends on our social media accounts.

You make friends as a way to connect to something larger than yourself. It's a conscious choice. Probably one of the most valuable too because your friends will mold you into the type of person you're going to be.

So even though my friends from college and I are no longer close, I still have to thank them for all the memories we've had. Out-of-state conferences and late nights full of singing. Having in-depth conversations about God and faith. And I love them despite being distant now because they've shown me how to grow in faith and as a person.

5 Perks Of Having A Long-Distance Best Friend

Sometimes, people get annoyed when girls refer to multiple people as their "best friend," but they don't understand. We have different types of best friends. There's the going out together best friend, the see each other everyday best friend and the constant, low maintenance best friend.

While I'm lucky enough to have two out of the three at the same school as me, my "low maintenance" best friend goes to college six hours from Baton Rouge.

This type of friend is special because no matter how long you go without talking or seeing each other, you're always insanely close. Even though I miss her daily, having a long-distance best friend has its perks. Here are just a few of them...

1. Getting to see each other is a special event.

Sometimes when you see someone all the time, you take that person and their friendship for granted. When you don't get to see one of your favorite people very often, the times when you're together are truly appreciated.

2. You always have someone to give unbiased advice.

This person knows you best, but they probably don't know the people you're telling them about, so they can give you better advice than anyone else.

3. You always have someone to text and FaceTime.

While there may be hundreds of miles between you, they're also just a phone call away. You know they'll always be there for you even when they can't physically be there.

4. You can plan fun trips to visit each other.

When you can visit each other, you get to meet the people you've heard so much about and experience all the places they love. You get to have your own college experience and, sometimes, theirs, too.

5. You know they will always be a part of your life.

If you can survive going to school in different states, you've both proven that your friendship will last forever. You both care enough to make time for the other in the midst of exams, social events, and homework.

Stay Close To Your Study Abroad Friends, You Guys Conquered The World Together

Apparently, it's true what they say: "If you travel with someone, you can do anything else with that person easily."

Over the last 10 days, I learned so much, but one of the biggest lessons that I learned was that if you can travel with people who are basically strangers and leave the trip with them being some of your closest friends, you really can do anything. I say the word "basically" strangers because we did have a class together before this trip that met once a week on Friday mornings. However, sitting in class with people and listening to them present is definitely not the same as developing close and personal relationships with them. Three days before the trip happened, we didn't know each other's names- which is crazy to me looking back on it!

With this group of ladies (and a few gents), we saw the world together. Well, we saw the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic- so not the entire world. The first "bonding" activity was the joy of experiencing 9 hours on a plane together. It was pretty awkward in some cases where you looked at the person you were sitting next to and realized that you had 9 hours to bond. Me? I got placed sitting next to my professor and her son- which was an entirely new experience.

The second "bonding" activity included us missing our flight from Frankfurt to Poland. We ran like banshees through the Frankfurt airport to our terminal only to be told that we couldn't get on the plane. If it wasn't for that experience, I'm not sure that we would have bonded in the way that we did. Shared (kind of bad) experiences truly do bring people together. On the plus side, we had more time to discover what food Frankfurt really had to offer. You can imagine my sheer delight when we came across a pastry shop!

We also took lots of walking tours. I'm not talking about a half hour of sightseeing, I'm referring to going from 9 am- 3 pm on your feet exploring the city with a tour guide. Now, it was super cool to see all of the sights. However, through all of this walking, we were able to talk and also bond in the feet aches, hunger, and slight sickness that was floating around our group for the entirety of the trip.

Now, the most exciting/ stressful part of the trip came when we were going from Poland to Prague on an overnight train. I thought it would resemble something similar to the Night Bus from Harry Potter... I was wrong. Very wrong. Included in the *tiny* car were six beds, with three stacked on top of one another. We somehow managed to fit 5 people and 5 very large suitcases inside of this train car, but with everyone being motion sick- it was a long night. I'm grateful for this night train because we all got extremely close to one another that night, seeing everyone in an uncomfortable situation.

We also conquered things like the train system, finding our way around, and the currency. When going out to eat, the server always put everything onto one check and left us to figure out the math. I don't think I've ever done that much math and converting in my head in my life. It was a struggle, but we got it down. There were language barriers too, where we had to adapt to only saying very simple phrases for those who hardly spoke English.

Did we conquer the entire world? Maybe not. But we did figure out 3 new countries and how to navigate life in them. The United States is a piece of cake.